LEARNING DAILY

 

1 Timothy 4:7, Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. (New Living Translation)

 

What does godly or being spiritual mean? Read this quote by Thomas Watson. “By nature we inherit nothing but evil, but godliness is the wisdom from above (my emphasis because of the last page of the blog). It is given by the Spirit because a man has no more power to change himself than to create himself.” I use this quote because it refers to the of spending time in prayer, Bible reading, study and meditating on it and walking on the narrow way to God’s kingdom. That is “training yourself for spiritual fitness” or “train yourself for godliness”. If you consider any person who excels in their profession, you will find that person was disciplined in the training it required to become the best at what they do.

 

Coming from an athletic background, I can tell you the best athletes were dedicated to their training routine; it was their discipline to do more than their opponents in order to be better in their performance that made them stand out. Spend more time conditioning, lifting weights just a little longer, shooting the basketball for an extra hour, throwing or catching more passes after practice or going to extra volleyball practices to gain the right habits, shed those extra pounds on the body, increase strength and stamina are all important disciplines in the life of the athlete who excels.

 

Getting rid of things that hinder the performance of an athlete sounds like the writer of Hebrews was saying in last half of Hebrews 12:1, “let us lay aside every weight, and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run the race that is set before us.” You and I must consciously do all we can to get rid of the things we do that keep us from becoming who God wants us to be in Him. It will often take all the energy we have to not do that. Here is the important part of this, God helps us get rid of the sinful and evil things that so easily grab and demand our attention. Just like the discipline the athlete has, so must you and I have discipline spiritually. The wisdom from above tells us what is evil and what is good. We then need to have the discipline to say no to evil and say yes to that which is good. That process might be difficult – even painful. But that is part of the training we go through to be godly!

 

Godliness is not developed by being inactive; it does not just happen. It requires for you and me to be disciplined every day in Bible study (not just reading), prayer, and making the right choices as we walk on the narrow way. To be able to do this, we determine to trust God which requires dying to our self-centered life. It might even mean we could be ridiculed and laughed at for what we do and do not do. But by knowing that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and He has said narrow is the way to His kingdom, we can determine to be disciplined to spend the extra time to do what strengthens our walk with Him now. All the time we spend preparing to enter that kingdom will be worth it. It is certainly a choice each of us must make; the choice to be disciplined just seems to make sense!